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New Braunfels Herald Zeitung (Newspaper) - August 12, 2000, New Braunfels, Texas
Air Quality Health Alert Day
■ Reduce emissions by car-pooling and avoiding unnecessary driving today.
NEW [ BraunfelsHerald-Ze
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Water Restrictions
■ New Braunfels Utilities customers with addresses ending in 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 can water before 9 a.m. ana after 7 p.m. today. Well users cannot water today.
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Vol. 149, No. 197
20 pages in 2 sections August 12, 2000
Saturday
Serving Comal County since 1852
50 cents
K. JESSSIE SLATEN/Herald-Zeitung
NBPD patrolman Jesse Villarreal photographs footprints near the employee entrance of McKenna Hospital where a newborn girl was left Friday night.
N e wborn abandoned at McKenna
By Ron Maloney AND K. JESSIE SLATEN
Staff Writers
The staff at McKenna Memorial Hospital is treating a newborn baby girl abandoned outside the facility Friday night.
McKenna Health Systems Chief Executive Officer Tim Brierty said late Friday the girl was in good condition. Child Protective Services caseworkers and New Braunfels police were called to investigate.
According to reports, police were checking local motels late Friday to identify the infant or its mother because the child was wrapped in a white towel.
The apparently Hispanic, black-haired, 5 pound 8 ounce baby was placed near a concrete bench outside an entrance commonly referred to as the “employee entrance,” near the hospitals emergency room.
She was found between 7:30 and 8 p.m., Brierty said, “wrapped in a white towel, no note, no shoes, no nothing.”
Brierty said the infant’s umbilical cord was still moist — and had been cauterized.
“She’s healthy,” Brierty said. “We’re actually very pleased shes here as opposed to the alternative. It’s a blessing for the child. We'll continue to work with CPS as the first step.”
The next step is to run a battery of tests to make sure the baby is healthy, which includes cultures. “This isn't the first time this has happened,” Brierty said, noting it had happened twice during the past decade.
So far, the baby was being officially referred to as “Baby Jane Doe,” Brierty said. But he noted a lot of people were working over her, and he chuckled.
“She'll probably have another name before the night’s out.”
What is different from the previous two times babies were abandoned at McKenna is House Bill 3423.
Under HB 3423, enacted Sept. I, 1999, a new mother who leaves an infant less than 30 days old w itll an emergency medical provider can avoid prosecution for abandonment. The legislation is commonly referred to as the “Baby Moses” law.
Inside
Your guide to New Braunfels
River conditions, weather, what to do, where to go, road work map.
Cory Morrow takes the stage at Gruene Hall tonight.
County headed for small lot moratorium
By Ron Maloney
Staff Writer
Comal County Commissioners are poised to vote on a nine-month moratorium on high-density housing development after a special meeting Friday.
They will decide Tuesday whether to prohibit temporarily construction of homes on lots of less than one acre in unincorporated areas. Construction on lots larger than one acre would be unaffected by the proposed moratorium.
Commissioners w ill meet at 9 a.m. in the commissioners’ courtroom, third floor of the courthouse annex.
In a special meeting Friday, Scheel presented commissioners a draft county resolution and order. The order would impose the moratorium to give the county time to assess the effects of large scale, dense residential development on aquifers, infrastructure, environment and quality of life in Comal County.
The resolution asks the City of New Braunfels and New- Braunfels Utilities to join the county in its effort. Hie city would be asked to enact a similar temporary moratorium on what the county calls new “ultra-density” housing. NBU would be asked not to extend sewer and water service to such developments in incorporated areas as well as extra-territorial jurisdictions.
“We’re certainly not trying to dictate to the City of New Braunfels or NBU,” Scheel said. “We're simply asking them to join w ith us.”
He also invited NBU to join a commission he wants to appoint to study growth issues in the county. Included on the proposed commission would be a pair of developers along with representatives of the Guadalupe-Bianco River Authority, Edwards Aquifer Authority, Southeast Trinity Groundwater Conservation District and the City of New Braunfels.
Scheel said the moratorium became neces-See COUNTY/12A
SCHEEL
Help children prepare for new school year
By Heather Todd
Staff Writer
About 10,670 Comal Independent School District students are expected to walk into classrooms Monday morning ready to start another school year.
Most students have all the necessary school supplies, new school clothes to wear and class schedules telling them where to
go-
But, some students, especially little ones attending for the first time or students going to a new school, might not be ready to step on campus Monday morning.
For some, it might be jitters or anxiety, or
others just might be dreading homework and getting up early.
School officials said parents can take steps to help their children have a smooth transition on the first day of school.
Some are as basic as knowing the child’s bus stop and others are more challenging, such as getting a child academically motivated for another school year.
Parents who drive their children to school are advised to keep in mind that construction work and lane closures around Interstate 35 could affect the drive time to school.
Parents who drop off children in the
morning are encouraged to leave early in case they are delayed by traffic jams around construction work.
Nancy Cobb, assistant to C'ISD superintendent Jerry Major, said “If the parents are dropping them off, make sure you get them there before school starts. Coming in late is very difficult for a student, especially on the first day.”
Cobb said parents whose children ride buses should know w here the bus stops are and the bus numbers.
Jackie Sundt, principal at Bill Brown Elementary School, a pre-kindergarten See SCHOOL/12A
Tour of duty ends
New Braunfels, lawmen say farewell to slain trooper
By Jo Lee Ferguson
Staff Writer
The Texas Department of Public Safety offices in Austin and San Antonio called Trooper Randall Wade Vetter on the radio Friday.
But he did not answer.
A calm, sad silence filled the air after each office called twice for Vetter by the number they had assigned him - —3484 while he
■ More photos, coverage from funeral, procession/
10A-11A
was stationed in New Braunfels and 6265 while he was stationed in San Marcos.
Finally, Capt. Chuck Smith, the Texas highway patrol commander in Austin, responded over the radio.
Smith said, “Trooper Randall Vetter is 10-7, out-of-service, and 10-42,” which is police radio code for “ending tour of duty.”
Smith’s words brought sniffles and tears to what a crow d of at least hundreds, if not thousands, gathered at the Comal Cemetery Friday to say a final goodbye to Vetter.
Vetter, 28. died Monday after he was shot in the head during an Aug. 3 traffic stop near Kyle off' Interstate 35. He was the 75th Texas DPS officer to die in the line of duty.
K. JESSIE SLATEN/Herald-Zeitung
Above: The crowd at St. Paul Lutheran Church in New Braunfels stands as the body of Trooper Randall W. Vetter enters the sanctuary. Above right: A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper hands a flag to a Zoeller Funeral Home representative during the graveside ceremony.
Vetter was buried in the Comal Cemetery Friday after a funeral service at St. Paul Lutheran Church in New Braunfels.
K. JESSIE SLATEN/Herald-Zeitung
After funeral services, one of many troopers leaves a memorial button atop the casket as another sign of respect and, said one trooper, “so a little piece of us goes with him.”
Vetter was reported to have exchanged fire with Kyle resident Melvin Edison Hale, 72, after pulling the elderly man over for not wearing his seat belt. Hale has been charged with capital murder of a peace officer and is being held in the Hays County Jail.
Vetter is survived by his w ife, Cynthia; 8-month-old son, Robert; father, Kermit Vetter; sisters, Amanda and Sandy Vetter; and other relatives.
Law enforcement officers from around the state and country joined with Vetter’s family and friends Friday to mourn his death and celebrate his life.
People arrived at the church as early as 7:30 a.m. to find a seat.
The crowd eventually spilled out of the sanctuary where the services were conducted and into the courtyard, fellow ship hall, chapel and courtyard w here big screen televisions and speakers had been set up to extend the service to more people.
See TROOPER/10AInside
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Key Code 76Coming Sunday
J flus
German grandmother has a tradition that makes sending youngsters off to school on the first day much easier. /Lifestyle
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